Littles Kitchen: raw-ish pad thai

My number one obsession is food blogs. I love perusing the endless pages of recipes, drooling over the plating of quinoa tacos, savory chickpea wraps, and just out of the oven chocolate chip cookies. When my favorite foods are combined with amazing plates and season specific napkins, I swoon! If it’s not clear, cooking and baking is my love- it’s how I made at college, how I show love to my friends, and bond with my sister. Food is the simplest way for me to express myself. It’s an art form and an act of love.

One of the aspects from my America life that I miss most frequently is trying new recipes from my favorite bloggers. Sadly, Saturday mornings of egg skillets, donut pans, and pancakes are behind me and replaced with Markets with Mina and eggs made in a steel wok. Not bad, just different.

I mean mind you I can still find amazing foods that are simple to make (hence this blog) and use ingredients that are both unique and new as well as easy for me to find! It seems that learning how to use spelt and chickpea flour is out of the question in the Littlest Kitchen but much to my surprise and joy, experimenting with kelp noodles are in!

I was “doing research” for work aka browsing Laura Miller’sblog who is one of my most favorite bloggers. Check her out- she’s real, hilarious, open, and defiantly someone I would love to meet some day! Last year, she posted a video for raw pad thai. As I’m living in Thailand and LOVE anything containing noodles, I clicked the video out of curiosity and watched her whip together this delicious, healthy, and raw dish that contained kelp noodles. I’ve never hear or seen these noodles before so imagine my glee when I found them in the grocery store that very day! Perks of living in an Asian country!

Kelp noodles are light, naturally gluten-free, and contain lots of iodine! It’s a perfect way to get your daily dose of salt without all the junky additives and oils. And they also soak up tons of flavor and bring a nice crunch to the dish!

So this quick meal is a perfect mid-week dinner or lunch as it is oh so simple to bring to work in a tubberware.  I’ve added a few extra veggies as well as baked tofu BUT FORGOT BEAN SPROUTS like a total goof and once I remembered this crucial ingredient, I was all too lazy to run downstairs and make the 30 step journey to my neighborhood fresh market. Laura would have been disappointed. I, however, was not.

Kelp noodles are a sintch to work with! Just soak them in hot water for like 20 minutes and you're good to go! In a jar, shake together the peanut butter-soy dressing and drizzle over the noodles so they can start the process of soaking up ALL the flavors. Then, chop up the tofu into squares and create a marinade using oil and your preferred spices. I like Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute! After the tofu has marinaded for, who knows-like 20 minutes, just  BAKE it in the oven. People who have an oven say to bake at 400 F for 25 minutes and those with a toaster oven (like ME) bake their tofu for 30-ish minutes This process adds an amazing golden color and wonderful firm texture while maintaining a soft, warm inside. Major yum!

Finally, slice up some yummy greens, like spinach or kale, and a nice red pepper! Toss all the ingredients together, add a nice slice of lime and pinch of black sesame seeds and you've created one power-house of a meal! 

Ingredients: 

1 package kelp noodles
1 red peper
1 bunch kale

Tofu:
1 8oz block tofu, pressed
Oil
Spices to taste

Sauce:
1 white onion, finely minced
1/4 cup peanut butter
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsb honey

Quite heavily inspired by mah girl Laura Miller. Watch the video here!